Dr. John Smith, Associate Professor Mathematics

Dr. John Smith is an associate professor with the Mathematics Department in his 11th year at PSCC. Currently, he is teaching Introductory Statistics and co-requisite Statistical Principles courses. He works in the tutoring center at the Hardin Valley Campus, and occasionally volunteers as a tutor with TRIO. Other institutional activities include participation in New Student and Universal Pathway to Employment Program (UPEP) orientations, conducting New Faculty Academy and PACE workshops, and service on assorted institutional committees.

He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He works with the UTK Transdisciplinary Phenomenology Research Group and serves as a Project SLOPE mentor. Project Slope is an NSF grant funded Scholarship of Teaching and Learning project of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges. During his tenure at PSCC he has made multiple state, national, and international conference presentations and facilitated several teaching and learning workshops. His dissertation research explored the positive transformative learning experiences of former PSCC students who overcame previous academic failure, social class and economic related obstacles to become successful in their academic, personal, and professional lives. Research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning, transformative learning, holistic approaches to pedagogy, and high impact practices with a focus on the first-year experience. He is a co-author of the 2019 Routledge publication, The Phenomenological Heart of Teaching and Learning: Lessons for Research and Practice.

The inspiration for this faculty fellow project is found in the PSCC mission statement which promises “a transformative environment fostering the academic, societal, economic, and cultural enrichment of the individual and the community”. What does a transformative environment look like? How do we foster societal, economic, and cultural enrichment in our chemistry, accounting, composition or statistics classes? A growing body of evidence indicates holistic or whole student approaches to teaching and learning promote the development of the non-cognitive skills essential to academic, professional, and personal success. Across the higher education community, holistic approaches to the First-Year Experience and beyond have shown promise in increasing student engagement and student success. This faculty learning community will provide the opportunity to share practical ideas about what it means to teach holistically across disciplines and job functions. Administration and staff members are encouraged to bring their knowledge and experience to the community. This is a chance to come out of our respective silos and share our expertise.